Ice Storm
by Star1412
Summary: Rachel goes to Serena's house to meet some of her extended family. Then her older cousin dissapears, and she hires Detective Moore to find out what happened. Lucky for her Conan managed to tag along...
1. Chapter 1

**Ice Storm: Chapter 1 **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Case Closed or Detective Conan.**

It was a bitterly cold, icy day. Rachel was taking Conan to Amy's house and teasing him about having a girlfriend. Conan thought that the whole thing was ridiculous. He was actually 16 years old, he only looked like he was seven. Then again, Rachel had no way of knowing that. Neither did the so called "girlfriend" for that matter.

"Why is all the ice on the ground Rachel?" Conan asked. "It's slippery." He had some idea on why there was ice on the ground, but he was asking to get Rachel to stop teasing him.

"Oh, the ice is there because it rained last night."

"But it was below freezing last night. Why didn't it snow?"

"It was warmer in the air than it was on the ground, so the water came down as rain, and froze once it hit the ground."

"Wait we're here, thanks for walking with me I guess..."

"It's fine. I was going to Serena's house anyway," Rachel said, completely ignoring Conan's embarrassment. "I'll be there if you need me." _Not that It's likely to happen. _She thought. _Conan is generally good at getting himself out of trouble. _

Conan walked up and rang the doorbell. Amy opened the door and said

"Hi Conan! Oh, Hi Rachel."

"Hello Amy. I'm going to Serena's house if you need me," she reminded them. "Have fun!"

"I didn't realize that it could be fun to work on homework" Amy said.

"I think she meant after we finish," said Conan "There's a big family gathering at her friend's house, so she'll be there for awhile."

"Okay, let's get started," replied Amy.

"_I'm so tired of all this ice_." thought Rachel. "_it looks nice, but it's way to easy to slip on regardless of the salt_. _At least it's supposed to get warmer later today_. _Maybe the weather forecast will be right for once_. Just then, she tried to stop too quickly, and slipped on an icy patch on the sidewalk. She was at Serena's house.

She knocked on the door and an older guy answered. He looked like he was around twenty years old. He was around six feet tall with black hair. Rachel figured that he must be Serena's cousin.

"Hi," he said. "You must be Rachel Moore." He smiled congenially, but something sinister lurked in his eyes. "Great butt."

"Yeah that's me," replied Rachel. 'I'll pretend I didn't hear that,' she thought.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Serena's cousin Max Sebastian"

Smiling somewhat uncomfortably, Rachel walked in, and Max lightly slapped her rear.

'Okay, that's it!' Rachel moved into the position that would ensure that Max got his butt handed to him on a silver platter.

Just then Serena came running up and pulled Rachel into the living room.

"My cousin Max is the only one here so far, so we can watch some T.V." Serena was clearly really excited. "I would rather do something else, but my Mom doesn't want us out in the ice."

"Okay," replied Rachel.

For awhile they argued about what to watch. So, of course, by the time they found something everyone could agree on, the rest of the family had arrived.

Serena had a huge extended family. Rachel was introduced to so many people that she could only keep about half of their names straight. Aside from Max Serena had ten cousins, four aunts' three uncles, and her two grandparents. Rachel forgot almost all the names as soon as they were introduced to her.

"Hello Rachel," someone said. She must have been about twenty five.

"Hi. You're Serena's cousin Joy right?" Rachel asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm Ashley," she said.

"Oh, sorry," Rachel said quickly. "There's so many people here, that I can't remember everyone's name."

"That's alright," Ashley told her. "I only know everyone's name because I've known them for a long time." Just than Serena came in. she looked irritated, which was weird. Serena was almost always in a good mood.

"Oh, hi Rachel. I see that you've met Ashley.

"What's wrong Serena?" asked Rachel.

"I was just getting tired of hanging around here, and we ran out of chips. My mom asked Max to go to the store to buy more snack food. I asked nicely if I could go, and she didn't let me."

"Is there a reason besides that?" teased Ashley "there wasn't a boy you wanted to meet?"

"Actually, no for once." Serena giggled. "I was just getting tired of being inside, but I've changed my mind. I want you to meet my younger cousins!"

Serena pulled Rachel away before she had time to react to anything Serena had just said. Her younger cousins were adorable, though. When the younger kids got bored, the girls taught them games they used to play when they were little. They both forgot the about Max and chips for a couple hours.

"Wow, it's almost six o'clock! I'd better go, or my Dad will be yelling about dinner," said Rachel.

"Alright, I know how he acts when he's hungry," Serena giggled. "You're right, you'd better go."

"Wait shouldn't Max be back by now?"

"He should, but he's probably just being careful about the ice. He'll be back soon," said Serena. She sounded uncertain though.

"At least it's gotten warmer,"said Rachel as she stepped outside. "a lot of the ice has melted already."

Conan looked at the clock to discover that it was nearly five thirty. He had been attempting to play a video game with Amy. He was absolutely terrible at video games, and his first grade friends didn't mind teasing him about it.

"You might actually be pretty good at this game if we set it on beginner and play the super easy level," giggled Amy. V_ery funny_ thought Conan 'I'm not _that _bad at this.'

instead he said "I wonder where Rachel is. Shouldn't she be here by now? She must have lost track of time." Just then the door bell rang, Amy opened the door to find Rachel.

"Hello you two" she said, "Sorry Amy, We've got to go pretty fast, because my dad will be complaining about dinner soon if we don't hurry. Did you get your project done?"

"Yes" they both said simultaneously.

"Okay good, we'll see you later Amy" said Rachel.

"bye".

"So Conan, did you have fun at Amy's house?" asked Rachel, once they started walking.

"Yeah, we looked at books and played some video games," replied Conan, "How was Serena's house?

"Really crowded. It was fun though. Serena's younger cousins are absolutely adorable they loved the games we taught them. It's weird though, her older cousin Max went to the store for snacks around two and he never came back."

"That's weird. He should have been back by the time you left. I'm sure he'll be back though."

Serena was freaking out. "_Where is he? It's seven in the morning already and he still hasn't come back_. _Did he disappear the way Jimmy Kudo did a few months ago?_ _Why did they have to leave me here with the younger kids? I'm perfectly capable of searching for Max or calling the police. They're old enough to look after themselves. Why do I have to watch them right now anyway? I'd rather look for Max with everyone else_._ I wish that I could do __**something**__ to help. Wait... I guess I can call Rachel. Her dad is a great detective. He'll know what to do..."_

**This is my first FanFic, so please review! I need to know how I'm doing! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ice Storm: Chapter Two **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Serena's cousins. **

**Arigato gosaimasu to ****Chelseaj500 for reviewing. I'm glad you liked it. Sorry about the English names. I don't know the Japanese enough to use them.**

Richard Moore woke up and stared at his alarm clock. "_What is that ringing?"_ he thought. _"And what am I looking at anyway? Oh right, it's my alarm clock, it's only seven thirty; I never wake up this early. I don't remember setting my alarm last night. Wait my alarm doesn't sound like that. That's the phone." _He tried to get up, but pain shot through his head. "_Uh, that's what I get for drinking so much last night. Now to find the phone. Who's calling at this hour anyway?"_

"Moore Detective Agency, Detective Moore speaking."

"Hello, this is Serena Sebastian, my cousin Max disappeared yesterday, and we really need help finding him. Please come help!"

"Of course I'll come!" Moore yelled. _My hangover's better already_. "I'll be there as soon as I can"

"Thank you so much!" said Serena. She was starting to sound like a crazed fan girl.

"What's going on?" said an annoyed voice from the hall. It was Rachel. Conan was trailing along behind her.

"Why were you yelling?" asked Conan.

"Apparently Serena's cousin disappeared yesterday and she wants me to come investigate as soon as possible, so I'm going to go talk to her." Just as he said this Conan ran off to the bedroom.

"_Good, maybe I'll be able to get away without him today. I'll just call a cab and leave before they're ready to go."_

_ "I'd better get dressed now. I won't be able to get more sleep anyway. Besides the old man will be completely lost without me," _thought Jimmy/Conan.

"Hi Mr. Moore! Are you going on a big case? Can I come?" yelled Conan.

"Can't you be quiet?" roared Moore. "You were half asleep three minutes ago! Yes, I'm on a big case, and NO you CAN'T come! It's unprofessional to bring a small child to a meeting with a new client. Especially one who's a young lady."

"But you do that all the time!" said Rachel sounding irritated. "Don't yell at Conan like that, dad."

"Well, I guess at this point you'll come even if I say you can't, so sure. You might as well."

"Dad, you didn't tell me that Serena was your client! How could you act like you wanted to flirt with her! That's gross, not to mention illegal!" screamed Rachel. "What were you THINKING?"

They were now at Serena's house, and Rachel was furious about her dad's behavior. Thankfully they were far enough away from the house that nobody could have heard them.

"Hey, I was half asleep." mumbled Richard. "I didn't mean that!"

"What do you think is going on?" asked Conan, hoping to keep them quiet, "Did something happen yesterday, Rachel?"

"I hope not, everything seemed fine when I left, but Serena's cousin, Max, had been gone a long time."

"Oh, we're here!" said Conan, "Let's see what's going on."

"Just stay out of my way," Moore growled.

They reached the door, and Moore rang the doorbell. Conan heard someone running to the door, and a tired child ask who was at the door this early. Then Serena opened the door. _She looks tired, I wonder how long she was up last night. What could have happened to keep her up? And who was the kid I heard? Serena doesn't have a younger sibling as far as I know._

"Detective Moore! I'm so glad you're here. My cousin max disappeared yesterday afternoon, and I didn't know what to do," said Serena.

"Give me a full description, of your cousin, and tell me what he was doing when he disappeared, and I'll see what I can do." Replied Detective Moore.

"Okay. Max is around six-foot-two, and he has black hair, and brown eyes."

"You do realize that you just described about half the population of Japan right? Do you have anything else you can tell me?"

"Oh right, he has a scar on his forehead from falling down the stairs when he was little."

"Great, now we're getting somewhere. What time did he disappear?"

"The last time I saw him was around three o'clock yesterday afternoon. He went to get more snack food for a family gathering."

"Where was he going?" asked Conan.

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU TWERP!" yelled Moore.

"I have some younger cousins here now and you probably just woke them up, _Detective." _Serena's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "I'd better make sure they're okay. Why don't you come, Conan? You should probably stay out of Detective Moore's way."

"Okay." said Conan. _Maybe they have some idea about what happened._

**Sorry, it's pretty short compared to my last chapter, but I'm a little stuck. Please Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ice Storm Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Detective Conan. I based Serena cousins off three of my cousins, added my brother and sister and made them younger, so they own themselves. and I don't own Nintendo Game Cube either.**

**Chelseaj500- Arigato for reviewing! I didn't really have writer's block, just a hard time coming up with my own characters. I'm not good at that. **

**Everyone else- please review. Sorry about the English names. I don't really know their Japanese names well enough to use them. Thanks for reading anyway!**

When Conan entered the room, he saw five children ranging from around four to eleven years old. They all looked tired and confused.

"Who's this?" asked a red- haired boy. He must have been one of the oldest in the group.

"Ian, this is Conan," said Serena.

"That's a funny name" said the youngest girl. She looked like she was around four years old.

"Lauren, that's not nice!" This boy was younger than Ian. He was around seven years old with light brown hair. Similar to Lauren's actually. Maybe Lauren was his younger sister.

"I'd better get back to Detective Moore. I'll be back in a few minutes." Serena said.

There were two kids who still hadn't said anything. One of them, probably the oldest in the group, was still asleep. Conan couldn't tell much about him except that he was skinny and had dark brown hair.

"_He must be a heavy sleeper." thought Conan. "I can't believe that the Old Man's yelling didn't wake him up."_

The other one had short light brown hair. She was probably around nine years old.

"What's your name?" Conan asked her.

"I'm Wendy, and that's my older brother Evan." She told him, gesturing to the boy who was still asleep.

"Are Zachary and Lauren Siblings?" asked Conan. "They look a lot alike."

"Yeah, we are." Zachary responded. "How old are you?"

"Um, me? I'm seven." said Conan. "Why do you ask?"

"You just know a lot of big words for someone your age," said Zachary.

"Right, like you have room to talk," giggled Wendy.

"Oh, yeah, I like to read a lot," Conan said.

"_I'll have to be more careful around these kids_,_" he thought. "I don't know if they could figure out who I really am, but I really don't want anyone else getting in trouble with Them. But, I also need to figure out what's going on here._

"Huh? What's going on?" mumbled Evan.

"Look who finally woke up," said Wendy.

"Who are you?" he asked Conan.

"I'm Conan Edagawa." He replied "I'm here because Serena called Detective Moore about Max. Can any of you tell me where he was going?

"Oh, Max was going to a nearby store to buy more snack food," said Ian.

"Yeah, but I think he was in trouble," Zachary said.

"In trouble how? He's an adult right?" asked Conan

"Max was drinking with other adults, and he let Lauren try alcohol." Evan responded.

"I thought it was apple juice," Lauren protested.

"Anyway, that got him in trouble with my mom," said Zachary. "That's why he was sent to get snack food. It was kind of a punishment."

"So they sent him alone _after_ he had been drinking?" asked Moore. "That doesn't sound very responsible."

"He hadn't been drinking very long, and the store was in walking distance, so he wouldn't have to drive." Serena said. "The ice was mostly off the sidewalk by then, so they figured he probably couldn't slip."

"Still, you'd think they would send someone with him just to make sure nothing had happened."

"I think it was part of his punishment. Lauren's mom was pretty mad…"

"Wait! How well did he know this area? Could he have gotten lost?"

"No, Max knows this area, and the store really wasn't that far away."

"Is there anything else you can tell us that would help us find him?" asked Moore.

"I don't think so." She sighed. "I hope he's alright.

"Dad, I met him yesterday," announced Rachel. "I would know him if I met him again."

"Well, that's good to know. At least we have a place to start," said Moore. "I think we should start searching around the route to the store. Maybe it will give us a few clues about how to continue."

"Are your cousins alright alone Serena?" asked Rachel.

"I think they can handle themselves for a few minutes. The adults just wanted me to stay so they wouldn't freak out if they woke up to an empty house. I think they're all awake now. Anyway, I should tell them what's going on.

"Serena and Rachel taught us a few games yesterday; do you want to play Conan?" asked Wendy. "There was one game we can play in here."

"Can we get out the Game Cube?" Zachary practically yelled. "Pleeeaaaaseee?"

"No, I don't want to do that yet," said Evan. "Besides, the T.V. is in the room where Serena's talking to Detective Moore. We probably shouldn't bother them."

"Oh. I guess that rules out playing sardines," mumbled Ian.

Suddenly Serena and Rachel appeared in the doorway.

"You can play sardines if you want," said Rachel. "Dad is taking us to help search for Max."

"If you play sardines, someone needs to stay with Lauren, okay?" Serena said. "We don't need any more problems right now. We'll probably only be gone for about twenty minutes, so don't get into trouble."

There was a chorus of "okays" from all the kids, and Evan tried to assure Serena that he would keep track of everyone.

"Can I come?" Conan asked.

"No, I'd feel better if you stayed here, okay Conan?" Rachel said.

"_I would feel better if I came." thought Conan. "I hope Detective Moore will at least act competent this time, because I can't exactly sneak away from all these kids to help out. _

**What's going to happen next? Actually I'm not sure yet. I have a couple ideas though. Please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ice Storm Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Detective Conan. **

**Mochi1412- Arigato Gozaimasu for reviewing! Sorry, I don't know much about Sonoko's family so I made stuff up. I'm not sure I can change the names to Japanese yet. Maybe I use Japanese in my next story.**

**Chelseaj500- Glad you liked it! I Didn't mean for Max to turn out so bad when I started. It just kinda happened. **

**Minasan (Japanese for everyone), Arigato Gozaimasu for reading!**

After Rachel and Serena left, Wendy asked if they wanted to play sardines.

"Sure," said Conan. "_Maybe I can sneak away when I go to find a hiding spot." _

"I wanted to play video games," Zachary whined.

"Why don't you play sardines with us now, and I'll play videogames with you later."

"Okay, I guess I'll play for awhile."

"So, who do you think should hide first?" Ian asked.

"Nose goes," said Evan as he put his finger on his nose.

Everyone put their finger on their nose, except for Lauren, who didn't understand what was going on.

"I guess Lauren hides," said Conan. "But Serena said that someone has to stay with her."

"I'll go with her," said Wendy. "Count to thirty five."

As they counted Conan tried to figure out how to escape. "_Maybe it would be better if I didn't he thought. Rachel would be furious if I went and they're probably half way to the store by now. There would also be the problem of the kids. They'll notice I'm gone, and I won't be able to get back before they find Wendy and Lauren."_

"Thirty two; thirty three; thirty four; thirty five! Ready or not!" the kids yelled.

"_I guess I'm stuck playing with them until the Old Man and Rachel get back"_

Rachel sighed they had searched half the route to the store and found nothing. Suddenly, Serena screamed. Rachel ran over to where Serena was to see what was wrong. She was met by her dad and Serena.

"It's Max," Serena was sobbing uncontrollably now. "He's in the middle of that empty lot. It looks like he's dead!"

"Rachel, call the police!" said Moore

"_Why does he always tell me to call the police?"_ she wondered briefly.

It didn't take her long to find a phone and call inspector Meguire. _"Now all that's left to do is wait for my dad to solve the mystery." _

_"I can't take this anymore," thought Conan "they've been gone for more than thirty minutes. By now, they must have run into something. Time to come up with an escape plan._

It was painfully obvious where Zachary was currently hiding. If I avoid it and find him last, I'll have to hide and when I do, I can slip out unnoticed. He walked around pretending to search for Zachary until he was sure that he was the last one out, and then he went to Zachary's spot. All five kids were crowded into a small closet.

"Hey, you finally found us," said Ian.

"Yeah," said Wendy. "You have to hide now!"

"Okay!" Conan yelled back. "Count to forty five!"

They closed their eyes and Conan ran off. "_I'll have to go out a door, so they don't notice that a window's open. I need a quiet door too, and my jacket. Maybe I can use the garage door. _

Conan ran in the direction of the store, and was soon close enough to hear inspector Meguire shouting orders to his men. He heard one man say, "It looks like a shot to the eye, but we haven't been able to find a bullet, sir."

"_Interesting. I need to have a look at the crime scene to help anyone, but how can I do it without Rachel seeing me. Maybe I should just start looking around and beg for mercy when I get caught."_

He walked closer, and noticed a few things about the crime scene right away. It was an empty lot, and power lines stretched over the yard. Policemen were looking around carefully trying to find something, probably the bullet. "_Weird that they can't find it, that's normally something they can do right away."_ Max was lying in the middle of it all. It looked like his eye had been gouged out. Odd there was an unusually small amount of blood for a bullet wound.

"Sir! There's an indent about three centimeters deep in the ground, right where his head was!"

"What!" boomed inspector Meguire. "No bullet could do that unless he was already down when he was shot!"

"That's the thing sir. There was no bullet. We've checked the whole area."

"Couldn't someone have stabbed him?" asked Moore. "Maybe hit him and stabbed him when he fell?"

"There's another thing sir. The indent was roughly celery shaped."

"How is that possible? What makes a hole that shape?"

"Maybe someone has a specialized weapon," Suggested Moore.

As the detectives were discussing the odd case, Conan was thinking. "_What could have made a hole that shape? I'm convinced that a bullet couldn't have done it. But what Did?"_

**Yay! Another chapter finished! Thanks for sticking with the story, if you've read this much! Please Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ice Storm Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

**What? No reviews this time? Oh well, Arigato for reading, if you've stuck with the story this far, you get a virtual cookie!**

"_I don't get it."_Conan thought_. "We have something that clearly looks like murder, but I don't think we have any suspects._

"Serena?" he asked, trying to play innocent. "Do you know if Max had any enemies?"

Serena seemed stunned by all the recent events**; **she was just staring off into space. "_This has to be hard for her."_ Conan realized. It took her a moment to respond to Conan's question.

"I don't think so," Serena said shakily. "He _was_ good at making people mad, but I don't think any of them would do this…"

"Conan!" Rachel was clearly angry. "Why are you here? I told you to stay with Serena's cousins! And now you're bothering Serena! I should just take you back home right now young man!"

"But I wanna stay here!" Conan whined in his best little kid voice. "I like seeing Detective Moore work!"

"Sure he can stay!" boomed the detective, having overheard the conversation. "I'm glad _someone_ appreciates my work!"

"Moore, you're the only person I've ever met who doesn't see a problem with letting children play in a crime scene." muttered Inspector Meguire. "At least this kid sometimes helps."

"Inspector Meguire?" asked Rachel. "Is it okay to take Serena home?"

"You were with her when this guy died, so that gives her an alibi. She can leave."

"Are you ready to go home Serena?"

Serena could only nod in response.

"_Okay time to look at the crime scene," _thought Conan._ Maybe I can come up with something if I actually see it. Too bad they moved the body. That would have helped me."_

He walked over to the crime scene, and found the celery shaped dent in the ground. The hole was filled with liquid. _"That's almost weirder then the shape."_ He thought. _"I guess I should try to find a weapon. The lack of blood on the body means the weapon wasn't removed right away, so whoever did this probably ran. But where is the weapon now? It should still be here. Who would have a weapon in that shape anyway? There has to be something I'm missing."_

As he searched, he noticed something. There were several similar divots in the ground, to the one that had been found under Max. There weren't very many, but almost all of them were directly under trees or power lines. They were all dry.

Conan noticed that detective Moore and Inspector Meguire were still trying to figure out what had made a celery shaped hole. No one would have a celery shaped weapon, and they wouldn't wait around and wait for Max to die so they could get it back. Suddenly, the conversation had changed direction.

"It's amazing that these power lines didn't break in the storm," said Meguire.

"Did anyone lose power?"

"No actually. Most power lines are under ground, where the ice couldn't affect it."

"So," asked Conan. "Does freezing rain build up on power lines too?"

"Yeah. It builds up on everything it touches." said the inspector. "that would include power lines, trees, buildings…"

"_I think I have an idea of what happened here."_ thought Conan. "_I need to be sure, and a way to prove it."_

"Inspector, do you have a measuring tape?" asked Conan

"Sure, why do you need it?"

"I just wanted to check something."

"_If I'm right, the indent should be less than six feet from under the power lines."_ thought Conan as he measured. He found he was right. It was about five feet seven from the nearest power line to the hole. "_I understand now. How do I get them to see it? There's no way I can do a model the way I normally do. Maybe I should just try to point the old man in the right direction."_

He started giggling like a little kid.

"What is it Conan?" Moore asked. "I'm trying to work here!"

"Look at these funny holes!"

"What!" the inspector and Moore exclaimed simultaneously.

"He's right! There are similar holes, and all of them are almost directly under the power lines.

"Inspector," Moore asked. "What usually happens to ice on power lines and trees when it melts?"

"_Yes!" thought Conan "The Old Man's getting it!"_

"It falls off" said inspector Meguire, "and starts to melt on the ground"

"So, if these pieces of ice were big enough, they could do a lot of damage to a person. The ice could even drive through their skull. But why did it go through his eye?"

"I heard from Serena's cousins, that Max had been drinking before he left," supplied Conan.

"So, Max goes off the road for some reason, and hears something. He looks up to see what it was to see a long stick of ice coming for him, but he's been drinking, so he can't react in time to avoid it." Richard Moore was on a roll now. "Then he falls backwards with enough speed to drive the end of the ice stick into the ground."

"Oh, I know!" said Conan. "Then the ice melts, right? That explains the not being able to find the weapon!"

"Right," the Inspector said. "Maybe you're not as hopeless as I thought, Moore!"

_"After Serena went home she told her cousins that Max was dead. When we reached the house, they all seemed sad, even though the youngest didn't really understand what had happened. We spent a few hours contacting relatives and telling them what happened. Before today, I would never have thought that someone could be stabbed with a stick of ice. I guess you learn something new every day." _

**The End.**

**So how do you like it? please review! Arigato Gozaimasu to everyone who read this!**


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